Back to Competition at the Peach Classic

During Labor Day weekend I competed at the Peach Classic in Atlanta, Georgia. The competition was hosted by the Georgia Figure Skating Club and they did a phenomenal job, especially Rob Lichtefeld the competition chair. Kudos to him! And for working so hard on his birthday!

Peach Classic was the first competition that I had participated since like 2007 and it was the first competition since I had ACL surgery in 2010. I spent most of the summer diligently working out and trying to stay on top of my programs. But my training was plagued with inconsistencies because my knee did not want to cooperate. And then two weeks before competition my SI Joint in my left hip was injured.

Well, great, I thought. But I didn't stress, which surprised me. When I was a teenager and competing I was always a ball of nerves and self-doubt. There was one time I remember before a freestyle test I had started crying before I skated because I was so certain I would suck. My attitude and skating self-esteem were horrible.

But now, I look at things differently. One, I am so thankful that I can still skate. For so long after ACL reconstruction I simply thought it would never happen again. And two, the whole point of this is to have fun, right?

I competed freestyle on Saturday. My coach couldn't be there, but my pals from the Birmingham Figure Skating Club were there to cheer me on. And I was so calm, even though I had forgotten to take my anti-inflammatory drugs and my knee and hip were throbbing. I was calm. And I calmly searched for some Ibuprofen (thank you Heather Mumper!). And then during the warm up, I did my elements, and only put my hand down on my last double toe loop, which I had tried to squeeze in after the referee had announced the warm up was over anyway. Again, I was amazed at how I was not freaking out. My legs weren't jello and there were no butterflies in my stomach. And I didn't feel like I had to pee. You can ask any skater and most will tell you they feel like they have to go to the bathroom before they skate even though they may have just already went. I watched three people skate with the IJS judging system--which meant it took forever! My body got cold. I didn't freak out again. I just put my jacket on. Where was this zen state coming from? I had no clue. And then it was my turn to skate. I took the ice knowing exactly which jumps I was going to do and which ones I was just going to do singles on (because I didn't want to aggravate my hip). And then I skated clean. No major mistakes. I got off the ice in awe.

Saturday night I had a little too much fun spending time with the fantasy characters roaming the streets of Atlanta at Dragoncon and I went to bed a bit to late for the day before a competition.

But when I woke up Sunday morning I did not fret over the fact that I was not well rested and my gal pal Anjali and I headed back to the rink for a morning of competition.

Did I mention how awesome adult competitors are? There is oodles of sportsmanship and pats on the back and have a great skate!

I competed Junior/Senior Freestyle:

I competed Pre-Gold Dance:

I also competed in Adult Gold Compulsory Moves (before this event there was a mega power failure at the ice rink and the entire city within a ten mile radius...it kept things interesting):

All in all, I had an excellent experience, injuries and all. And I can't wait to compete again. Shout out to Deavers Photography for these fun action photos. And shout out to my gal pal Anjali Patel for showing me an awesome weekend!